This was Stern sending a message to all the teams that tanked. The 3 worst teams each got their worst pick possible (what are the odds?). Atlanta had to be in the top 3, or else had to trade their pick to Phoenix. The top two picks went to teams with the two lowest attendances and were about to move cities; the draft now saves these 2 franchises and revives a fanbase. Seriously look at the percentages, there is no way this all was possible without some fixing, it's ridiculous and disgusting at the same time.

Do people know that the ping pong balls are not selected in public? It is done in secret.
Can some stat guy come up with the odds of all this happening? Something like 1 in a million...

Interesting...I'm not sure if I believe it, but worth thinking about...it's just so hard to imagine the Grizzlies, C's and Bucks all happening to miss the top 3, I'd love to see the mathematical odds on that...

Still, I don't know if I'm a conspiracy theorist, of course, there's always the '85 lottery....

Do people know that the ping pong balls are not selected in public? It is done in secret.
Can some stat guy come up with the odds of all this happening? Something like 1 in a million...

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Not too far off the ballpark--if you're talking about this exact result.

Odds of Portland getting #1: 53/1000
Odds of Seattle then getting #2: 88/947
Odds of Atlanta then getting #3: 8/859
Net result: 46 in a million

If all you're talking about is the top three teams getting shut out, it's at least 6%. So--unlikely, yes. Fixed, probably not.

Also, the way the ping pong balls are drawn, it's pretty darn hard to "game" the system (I won't get into the details here, but it's not nearly as simple as drawing a ping pong ball that says "Portland").

There is already a poor celtics thread on the main board - and I understand why, it is news albeit bad news for a Boston team. The lottery system is a joke, just like the league that employs it. But it ain't football - so could you crossover fans limit the handwringing to one thread on the football board?.

I don't buy your premise but if it's true I'm fine with it. The best picks are supposed to go to the worst teams not the ones that tank or have guys like Pierce out but returning the next season.

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Pierce was legitimately injured, and in fact, played hurt when he did play.

And trust me, the Celtics were no better than the second worst team in the league last season, they earned one of those top two picks. Long before they could even begin thinking about tanking they lost 18 straight games when Oden, Durant, and the draft were just a blip on the radar screen.

This was Stern sending a message to all the teams that tanked. The 3 worst teams each got their worst pick possible (what are the odds?). Atlanta had to be in the top 3, or else had to trade their pick to Phoenix. The top two picks went to teams with the two lowest attendances and were about to move cities; the draft now saves these 2 franchises and revives a fanbase. Seriously look at the percentages, there is no way this all was possible without some fixing, it's ridiculous and disgusting at the same time.

Do people know that the ping pong balls are not selected in public? It is done in secret.
Can some stat guy come up with the odds of all this happening? Something like 1 in a million...

Pierce was legitimately injured, and in fact, played hurt when he did play.

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That's fine, I'm just saying don't start whining about "the most deserving teams not getting the top picks" when we all know that with a healthy Pierce heading into next season the Celtics aren't close to the 2nd worst in the league.

that reasoning about exposure doesn't make sense. portland and seattle both used to have big fan bases and were on tv a lot. tv shows teams that are good, period. san antonio, and sacramento before that, are/were on tv a lot now, because they are good. this draft helped the two lowest fan attendance franchises immensely.

that reasoning about exposure doesn't make sense. portland and seattle both used to have big fan bases and were on tv a lot. tv shows teams that are good, period. san antonio, and sacramento before that, are/were on tv a lot now, because they are good. this draft helped the two lowest fan attendance franchises immensely.

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It's still not good for the league - most of their games are at 10pm eastern. Rejuvinating a team like the Celtics would help the league a lot more.

One word sums it up. Dissapointing. It's always a toss up in these lousy lotteries. It's just not catching a break kind of sucks. We lost the Tim Duncan sweepstakes 10 years ago this week and now this. Anyway it's not all the lotteries fault,they've had some pretty bad management going on as well.

I don't buy your premise but if it's true I'm fine with it. The best picks are supposed to go to the worst teams not the ones that tank or have guys like Pierce out but returning the next season.

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Tanking? Do you mean losing deliberately in order to gain another benefit?

Do you think a team should be able to benefit from deliberately losing, like for example, if the Pats were to deliberatly lose to Miami in order to get a home game vs Jacksonville?

Is that tanking or working within the system?

I am not a huge fan of the NBA, but this latest lottery, with the secret drawings and rather unlikely result, makes me feel better about the chances of boxing being free of corruption when compared to the NBA.

God help us if the NFL ever gets the idea that a lottery system would be a good idea.

Tanking? Do you mean losing deliberately in order to gain another benefit?

Do you think a team should be able to benefit from deliberately losing, like for example, if the Pats were to deliberatly lose to Miami in order to get a home game vs Jacksonville?

Is that tanking or working within the system?

I am not a huge fan of the NBA, but this latest lottery, with the secret drawings and rather unlikely result, makes me feel better about the chances of boxing being free of corruption when compared to the NBA.

God help us if the NFL ever gets the idea that a lottery system would be a good idea.

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ainge today said hes never been a huge fan of the lottery system, and went on to say "but what else is there"

BTW, don't say the draft is rigged when the two premium guys end up in Oregon. It's not suicide for the league but it ain't good when most of the country will rarely see them play.

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That's not true. The league's biggest market is LA, and they'll see these guys play plenty. Besides, tonight saved the Portland and the Seattle franchises; both teams were in danger of moving, but having a legitimate superstar will allow both to become potentially profitable (Cavaliers in aftermath of Lebron), and both teams have been successful both on the court and in the bank.

The lottery system really bothers me. In the NFL, there's no lottery, but there's not enough games where tanking becomes an issue. In baseball, the draft is practically meaningless anyways (the Devil Rays have had the 1st pick since the founding of their franchise and yet are still horrendous). In the NHL, there's a lottery, but it only effects one team (the team that is drawn can move up to 1, but only if they were picking before 5... the 6th team, if chosen, would move up to 2, the 7th to 3, etc.)

Stern was sending a message to the teams that tanked and trying to keep the Blazers and Sonics in their respective cities. The chance for Memphis and Boston to be outside of the top 3 was 0.18%... ridiculous odds.

First....a draft style like that of the NFL encourages tanking. Thats why the NBA encorporated the lottery system to begin with. Otherwise you have instances like the NFL saw in the year of Reggie Bush with teams trying to lose down to the wire to get that #1 overall. You don't think that would have been much more common this year if it were just by the numbers? You don't have a problem with it that's fine....but tell that to a Season Ticket Holder who paid a few grand to watch Paul Pierce and Michael Redd play, only to get stuck watching Gerald Green battle Mo Williams.

Second.....stop saying Portland got the #1 to help keep them in the city. I don't know where you're getting that from, but that's the biggest piece of misinformation in this thread. Portland is not now and never was a major threat to leave. Seattle is a different story.

Do people know that the ping pong balls are not selected in public? It is done in secret.

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It is not done in secret. It is done off camera in front of representatives of all the lottery teams.

It is not done on TV because they think it is more dramatic TV opening envelopes starting with the last pick moving up to the first pick rather than a 30 second ceremony where a couple ping pong balls come out.

I'm amazed that nearly 20 years after the incompetent Dave Gavitt used the whole "league is out to get the Celtics" defense for his failure to do his job that Celtics fans still believe it is true.

TThe chance for Memphis and Boston to be outside of the top 3 was 0.18%... ridiculous odds.

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So one fifth of 1%. That is not even counting the chance for Milwaukee to get its worst possible pick, and for Seattle/Portland to get the top two spots, plus the small chance that Atlanta would actually get to keep its draft pick by being in the top 3.

Yes, I am bitter and disappointed, but I also think this draft was really convenient for the NBA (help out the lowest two fan attendances, and punish the 3 teams that supposedly tanked).